There has been a bit of a gap since the last
LondonGyudon (10) post but in that gap, I have eaten some gyudon. Firstly, I have taken the opportunity to return to Shitamachi Ramen and enjoyed a little more of their gyudon. Secondly, I had a short break in Japan with visits to both Matsuya and Yoshinoya in Tokyo
[1]
which have been labelled as a
LondonGyudon (0) post. I'm not sure if these have recalibrated or reset my tongue to the tastes to expect but it does mean I've had some tasty food in the interim.
I noticed Shinobi Sushi as I was walking home from
Archway fairly recently and told Paul about it. Actually, I have noticed a few more places offering gyudon over the last year or so but often they are not shown properly online. Anyway, this was space I had walked past many time and has changed hands (and cuisine types) many times over the last decade or so and seemed better utilised as a fast-food space than a restaurant. There were seats but it had the ambience of a delivery kitchen with some seats. As the name suggests, the menu was largely based around the sushi offering and it feels like it is well placed to be a sushi delivery service in the North London area.
Walking in on a Tuesday evening, the pale wooden flooring was utilitarian and there was a distinct lack of custom. I had eaten here before on my own and it was not particularly busy then but there were quite a few deliveries taken by scooter riders so I knew it was fairly popular. That continued to be the case on this evening too. We sat and took the menus
[2]
to see what was on offer. We ordered the gyudon but also added vegetable gyoza and some
uramaki (inside out rolls - rice on the outside) and waited.
We did not have to wait long for the food to arrive and it all came together too. We started with the “sides”. The gyoza was not as expected with the dumplings themselves being softer than expected. I like gyoza that are asymmetrically fried to have a soft side and a crispy side but this was soft all the way around. The sauce provided was also atypical in the sense that it was sweet chilli - something that is not really considered “Japanese”. The taste of them was alright but it wasn’t gyoza as I would think of them. The
uramaki was salmon and avocado with a healthy amount of ginger and wasabi to garnish. The
uramaki was pretty good as it was well constructed and stayed as a single piece. The fish was nice and went well with the avocado. As expected, the sushi was fairly decent and I can see that this was probably the focus. So, onto the gyudon. As a result of the previous food and the decor, I was not expecting a particularly Japanese gyudon and in this sense, I was not disappointed. I was, however, disappointed with the gyudon and the taste of it. The bowl already had some bright red ginger added and this did give a spike to the taste but it was a heavy bowl of beef. The oily beef glistened and was fairly chunky giving the look of beef on rice but not gyudon. As it was an atypical gyudon, it felt like it had something added to give the meal more heft (it was a more expensive dish than most on the menu) but nothing more elaborate than salt, maybe. We both finished the bowls off and although it wasn’t a lot of food, it was still just about sufficient.
Overall, the food was a little disappointing and, like a lot of the meals had in the project, felt a little like a Japanese theme restaurant and I can imagine it doing fairly well in smaller towns. I am not sure I saw any Japanese people there, in fact, so it is likely to be an element of tourism to the meal design. I guess the sushi was fairly good and does explain the name and the continuing business they do to the local area but I think I can find places that I prefer to deliver to me.
Cost of gyudon: £11.50
Shinobi Sushi
85 Junction Road, London,
N19 5QU
